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Post by KTJ on Jun 2, 2020 11:32:57 GMT 10
 (click on the photograph) |
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Post by Occam's Spork on Jun 3, 2020 3:20:35 GMT 10
Holy man?
IMO, his Bible doesn't seem that well-used.
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Post by Occam's Spork on Jun 5, 2020 1:22:14 GMT 10
Holding a Bible up does not make one Christian any more than standing in a forest makes one a tree.
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Post by pim on Jun 5, 2020 7:17:03 GMT 10
He profanes the sacred
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Post by KTJ on Jun 5, 2020 9:46:17 GMT 10
Well … the stained-glass minds fundy-mental “hallelujah, praise the lord” religionists in America obviously think that, not only is Trump a holy man, but that the sun also shines out of his arsehole, based on the way they unreservedly support him and figuratively lick his boots all the time.
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Post by KTJ on Jun 5, 2020 10:13:07 GMT 10
The great man whose arsehole is worshipped & licked by America's fundy christians… (click on the cartoon)
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Post by KTJ on Jun 5, 2020 14:58:41 GMT 10
I betcha that fundy-mental, “hallelujah, praise the lord” American christians continue to support and vote for “Fake President” Donald J. Trump.
from The Dominion Post…Trump's leadership ‘like something in the Alien franchise’The South American dictator in Trump is struggling to take over what shreds of respectability remain.By ROSEMARY McLEOD | 11:08AM — Friday, 05 June 2020 President Donald Trump holds a Bible as he visits outside St. John's Church across Lafayette Park from the White House on Tuesday NZ time.
— Photograph: Patrick Semansky/Associated Press.ONLY that great American comedy The Simpsons could do the current state of America justice. Goodness knows the rolling tragedy needs some levity.
True, there was the outright hilarious sight of Donald Trump holding up what he said was a Bible in front of a church. It reminded me of the equally hilarious duel in The Lord of the Rings between the good (Gandalf) and bad (Saruman the White) wizards. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to rock with laughter in either case at the po-faced brandishing of weapons/talismans. And I mean that kindly.
I wondered aloud what Trump was really holding in that stunt, or photo opportunity, as his coven cowered around him. It could have been an old diary for all we know, because he didn't have the gumption to open it and call on Scripture to back his campaign of inciting violence.
The prophet Isaiah's bit about beating swords into ploughshares could have been relevant, or “Blessed be the peacemakers,” which would have left him choking, but he could have tried it for fun. It was a new pose, piety, and he was suitably unconvincing.
I suspect he's got his hopes up about stirring street violence in the months leading to the election, starting now, so that he'll seem to be a patriotic hero who quelled a revolution. For that he needs the vandalism and looting to continue unabated. President Donald Trump walks in Lafayette Park on his way to St. John's Church across from the White House. — Photograph: Associated Press.Sadly for him the genuine marchers against racism are now calling out that element, policing them without the help of the amped-up legion of military and paramilitary Trump has dragged in hopefully to rough up people voicing their constitutional right to be heard.
His fan base, he seems to think, needs footage of people — black, white, whatever — bleeding and dragged by the hair to waiting paddy wagons.The South American dictator in Trump is struggling to take over what shreds of respectability remain. It's like something in the Alien franchise.
American history is inspiring and brutal in equal measure, which is why it makes such great horror movies. It fought two wars to forge itself as a nation, against the British as colonials, then against itself in a civil war.
Its founding fathers were inspired by the French Revolution's cry of liberty, equality and fraternity, but the country has always struggled with equality and fraternity between whites and blacks. There was also the horror show dispossessing Native Americans from their lands with heart-stopping cruelty. The statue of President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park, Washington, overlooking the White House. — Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Associated Press.You might have noticed the equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson, 7th president, in Lafayette Square in front of the White House in news reports. In his career, and that of other presidents since, there was a mixed bag of good and bad.
He sought to advance the rights of “the common man” against “the aristocracy,” we're told, a vision that did not include black slaves. He may have owned up to 300 black human beings on his cotton plantations and campaigned against abolition. The inscription under the statue reads, “Our Federal Union It Must Be Preserved.” He was big on that, too.
Fittingly, considering the horse and the pose, Jackson was a general in the United States Army. He served in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. He also killed a man in a duel, and was the first president to survive an attempted assassination. There was more to him, of course, but such was the rough mixture that made up the man who’s been on that spot since 1853.
No-one will ever raise an equivalent statue to Trump. It wouldn't be fair on the horse.__________________________________________________________________________ • Rosemary Margaret McLeod is a New Zealand writer, journalist, cartoonist and columnist for The Dominion Post. McLeod has written for many of New Zealand's major publications, including North & South, the New Zealand Listener and The Sunday Star-Times. www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/121719710/trumps-leadership-like-something-in-the-alien-franchise
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Post by pim on Jun 5, 2020 16:59:08 GMT 10
Who are you talking to KTJ?
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Post by Occam's Spork on Jun 5, 2020 23:52:31 GMT 10
Trump is a blustery, thrice-married, egotistical, chauvinistic, racist billionaire who professes 'no-need-for-forgiveness'.
The etymology of the word 'Christian' is "Christ-follower"; That implies his character should at least in some way resemble the mind of Christ.
Merely holding a Bible in public does not make Trump a Christian any more than holding celery in public makes one a vegan.
You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (Matthew 7:16-17)
Neither can it be said that everyone who is a Trump supporter is a professing Christian themselves; there are limitations in the American two-party system. And one must often support the lesser of two evils.
It may not be that these people are pro-Trump, rather they are anti-alternative.
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Post by pim on Jun 6, 2020 0:32:25 GMT 10
Occam the Trump presidency is the greatest threat to the US Constitution since the Civil War and the Republicans abandoned any notion of “loyal opposition” when the Democrats controlled the White House and in government they have become the party of voter suppression, of stacking the law courts and of science denial as regards climate change and environmental protection.
I’m sure that for their part the faults of the Democrats are legion and that Joe Biden has been a very naughty boy in his day. But I don’t believe that they want to wreck the joint the way that Trump and Mitch McConnell have set out to do. I think that when it comes to “greater of two evils” the Republicans have turned themselves from being one half of a two party system into a conspiracy to wreck the system.
That said, I agree with you that the two party system in the US has become dysfunctional. From my vantage point down here at the bottom of the world I’m afraid I have no advice for the Americans, gratuitous or otherwise, on how to make their system work in the interests of their people. As for your points regarding Matthew 7:16-17 and holding a Bible as a prop in a photo op, I can only wholeheartedly agree with you.
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Post by KTJ on Jun 6, 2020 8:18:07 GMT 10
And one must often support the lesser of two evils. It may not be that these people are pro-Trump, rather they are anti-alternative.
From The New York Times, what really happened in Lafayette Square…• How Trump's Idea for a Photo Op Led to Havoc in a Park…and we all know those sick fundy christian fucks will continue to support and vote for the despot “Fake President” Donald J. Trump, showing their true colours.
Fundy christians are as bad as Trump by supporting him while proclaiming their imaginary god as justification for the bullshit they spout.
Fundy christians are no different from muslims or any other mentally-retarded religionists who believe the god delusion inside their mind is a real god.
You fundy religionists look the other way over anything, regarding it as the means to your evil ends. Where is the condemnation from American fundy christians over Trump's behaviour?
We've seen this sort of despot behaviour from christians before … during the Spanish inquisition and other similar crusades by christians, muslims and other religionists where the means justifies the ends. |
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Post by pim on Jun 6, 2020 8:58:12 GMT 10
Predictable. Tendentious. Nothing new. Stale. Arid. Sterile. Needs to get a life. Boring.
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Post by KTJ on Jun 6, 2020 9:13:51 GMT 10
Predictable. Tendentious. Nothing new. Stale. Arid. Sterile. Needs to get a life. Boring.
Some things never change. |
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Post by KTJ on Jun 6, 2020 9:34:17 GMT 10
American PIGS with a cloud of tear-gas visible just after they have used chemicals and batons to force back peaceful demonstrators from a “public place” so the fake president can hold up a bible (upside-down) in front of a church while his christian supporters cheer him on and lick his arsehole and vow to continue to support and vote for their despot hero, all in the name of their god delusion.
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Post by Occam's Spork on Jun 6, 2020 11:28:31 GMT 10
Predictable. Tendentious. Nothing new. Stale. Arid. Sterile. Needs to get a life. Boring.
Some things never change.Did I mention that I am Canadian? My 'support' or lack thereof regarding any Republican or any Democrat is woefully irrelevant. I can only cheer or jeer from the sidelines. But I see why you'd want to paint me into a corner. Your Ignorance never shows much reason. |
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Post by Gort on Jun 6, 2020 15:25:31 GMT 10
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Post by Occam's Spork on Jun 7, 2020 2:20:03 GMT 10
Not sure how this relates to anything we are talking about here...🤔 |
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Post by pim on Jun 7, 2020 7:38:06 GMT 10
Just Trickles filling his spam quota, Occam. Birds fly, fish swim, Trickles spams  |
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Post by Gort on Jun 7, 2020 10:58:57 GMT 10
Not sure how this relates to anything we are talking about here...🤔 I'm sorry ... did you miss the part about this person lip-syncing to Donald Trump? |
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Post by Occam's Spork on Jun 7, 2020 11:21:54 GMT 10
Not sure how this relates to anything we are talking about here...🤔 I'm sorry ... did you miss the part about this person lip-syncing to Donald Trump? No, I didn't. But my question was one of relevance... Your contribution to this discussion is nothing more than a sideshow. |
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Post by Gort on Jun 7, 2020 11:31:37 GMT 10
Relevance? My post demonstrates Trump's complete lack of sincerity about the Bible and his obviously pathetic attempt to deflect from his ignorance about the Bible.You couldn't get more relevant than that!  Those words in the clip were not "made up" ... they are an actual recording of Trump speaking about the Bible. Listen to them again and you might work out the relevance.  |
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Post by pim on Jun 7, 2020 16:14:20 GMT 10
Brittle, sensitive ... poor guy
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Post by Gort on Jun 7, 2020 20:49:36 GMT 10
You probably didn't even listen to the clip eh Pimbo?
You just defaulted to your bullying self.
If you did listen to the clip, you obviously missed that it was a recording of Trump, or failed to make the connection between the topic and the clip.
Understandable given your affliction.
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Post by Occam's Spork on Jun 8, 2020 0:33:28 GMT 10
Relevance? My post demonstrates Trump's complete lack of sincerity about the Bible and his obviously pathetic attempt to deflect from his ignorance about the Bible.You couldn't get more relevant than that! Those words in the clip were not "made up" ... they are an actual recording of Trump speaking about the Bible. Listen to them again and you might work out the relevance. Shouldn't that prove that Trump is anything BUT Christian? |
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Post by pim on Jun 8, 2020 9:42:32 GMT 10
GEORGE BROWNING. Trump vs ChristianityBy GEORGE BROWNING 8 June 2020 johnmenadue.com/trump-vs-christianity-by-george-browning/I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies…but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everlasting stream. Amos 5: 21-24 Nothing could be more dreadful than the murder of George Floyd, under the watchful eye of supposed custodians of law and order. But as a commentary on this evil, Trump holding a bible outside St John’s Episcopal Church, having tear gassed a pathway to its door, speaks as clearly as anything might about the spiral into decay of a proud nation. Thank goodness the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Bishop Mariann Budde, immediately chastised the president for this outrage. “Let me be clear”, she stated, “the President just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the things of Jesus”. If it were not so serious, the news clip of Trump tear gassing a pathway to the Church together with the officially released White House video would, in other circumstance, be an episode from the Chaser, the rather disrespectful, but humorous take on current affairs. But this was not funny, it was an outrageous attempt to appropriate Christianity for divisive political ends. But who was the intended audience? Who was presumed to be impressed? The dreadful truth is that the intended audience was Trump’s political base, American Evangelical Christianity. The collapse of the county’s moral base is staggering. As a letter to the SMH editor cynically said, “I suppose it was inevitable that having invaded so many other countries, America would eventually invade itself”. What supposedly is the US’ moral base – well Trump clearly thinks it is Evangelical Christianity. The calamity now being experienced by the US is not simply that it is imploding, with deep chasms in its civil society, but that Christianity is being appropriated for strategies, power plays, ideologies, accomplishments that are the very antithesis of Christian faith. American Evangelical Christianity appears to have fallen into a mix of prosperity gospel, conspiracy theories, dualism, fundamentalism, individualism, and general attitudes and behaviours antithetical to the life and teaching of Jesus. Trump, how dare you. But perhaps it is not your fault. The US philosopher Sam Harris, darling of American humanists and CEO of Project Reason says freewill is an illusion. Is Trump a tragic caricature, a puppet? So Trump, are you the single most significant contributor to this decay, or are you a creation of it? Has American evangelicalism created you? The cartoon of a person coming up behind Trump and offering him a Bible to which he responds, “What’s in it, does it mention me” just about sums it up. Those who most want to thump others with the bible; about the evils of environmental responsibility, or the rights of the LGBTQI community, or who want to make war against Muslims, or call a terrorist anyone who gets in the way of America’s grand design, are the ones who seem to have the least knowledge of it. If the US and China are the powers between which Australia must choose its future, which is more dangerous, which might be more reliable? Is it better to trust a communist country with an ideology that is an affront to the values we espouse: freedom of speech, democracy, liberality, respecting difference, protecting minorities: or is it better to put our trust in a country which claims values and a moral base which are clearly an illusion? Is Trump’s recourse to ‘fake’ (his strategy to fend off truth), a pathway he stumbled into because it suits his pugnacious style, or is it something more frightening? Is it an unintended reflection of an inner realisation, conscious or otherwise, that the moral foundation upon which he relies, US evangelical Christianity is itself fake? The time has come to stop pussyfooting around. Just as Muslims worldwide have been expected to stand up against the appropriation of their religion by extremist ideologies that have expressed themselves in various forms of terror, so the Christian community must make it clear that Christ and the Gospel will not be sullied.Christianity is not about individual rights. It is about responsibilities that reside in being part of a body: be that body the family, the local community, the nation, or as importantly, the global community . Individual rights must always defer to reciprocity within communal life. Asserting rights that privilege some and diminish others can never be condoned in Christian life. Those who promote gun rights need to hear Jesus’ word to Peter, “put your sword back in its sheath”. Jn 18:11 Christianity is not about prosperity; it is absolutely not about prosperity being a sign of God’s blessing. Christianity is about being a blessing, it is about investing in the good. Christianity abhors ‘justice’ achieved through the prevailing, or dominating, of the strong and the vanquishing of the weak. Justice demands upholding equality. It demands respect. In Jesus, difference has been levelled. There is to be no bond or free, no male or female, no Jew or Gentile. US evangelicals are wrong and immoral to promote the rise of Israel through the vanquishing of Palestinians, anymore than whites should prevail at the expense of blacks. God’s ways can never be claimed through such injustice. By doing so, US evangelicals have positioned themselves against the God known to us in Jesus who knows no benefit to some at the expense of others. Christianity is rooted in the incarnation of Jesus, in the reality that humanity is divinely rooted in the whole created order. So called creation science, a short view of history and commitment to the dominance of humanity over the rest of the created order is not biblical. Trump can claim no Christian base for raping the planet under the banner of “America First”. Creation science is a lie and should not be given airtime, any more than conspiracy theories should be given airtime, accept of course on Fox. There is a great deal at stake here. Christianity is the story of redemption, of peace, of hope. Its truth deserves to be heard. If folk are to reject Christianity, please at least hear it first. Its truth will blow you away, its art will inspire you, its acts of kindness will transform you and its God of grace will embrace you with life in all its fullness.
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